The Star Tours Travel Agency offers "convenient daily departures to the exotic moon of Endor" and other locations throughout the galaxy. All passengers travel in the Starspeeder 3000. As each boarding party enters the facilities, they will encounter the Star Tours Officers, maintenance droids, Mon Calamari, and even R2-D2 and C-3PO. Once the tour is complete, passengers will be able to pick up a variety of different souvenirs from around the galaxy. Let the journey begin and may the Force be with you!

It
is really unfortunate when Hasbro
decides to make some really cool
action figures of "rare" Star Wars characters as part of a hard-to-find
exclusive set. Such is true for
the Disney exclusive STAR TOURS
Boarding Party multipack by Hasbro.
There are a lot of great things
about this set, and then there
are quite a few not so great things.
But what is most important to note
is its inclusion of Teek and secondly
Kaink, who are both from the kitschy
and corny (and at different parts sometimes extremely enjoyable) Ewok films of the mid
1980s. This multipack will likely
be the first and last place you
will ever find these characters
and we have to sadly admit that
a $39.95 price tag is required
for purchase. Clearly this is a normally
unacceptable amount to pay for
only two figures desperately wanted, but the third
new figure is just extra [unnecessary] fodder
and the two others are two figures
you really don’t want in
your collections....again. You already have them.
Included from left to right in
the package are STAR TOURS Officer,
Kaink, Teek, Ree-Yees and Chewbacca.
Quite a hodgepodge and motley crew
of characters that would normally
not be seen together otherwise,
this group of five diverse characters actually commemorates
the original “boarding party” back
in 1987 when the ride first opened
at the Disney parks. Obviously the Ewoks films were relatively new
at that point in time so it makes sense
that Teek and Kaink were included
in this gift set. And thank goodness
they were because the other figures in the set are probably
not worth your while. But
we’ll get to the bombs of
this set in a moment. Collectors
who are fans of the Ewoks films
and/or Ewoks in general will be
sorry for passing on this extremely
limited edition set of only 15,000
pieces worldwide. And this is because of how awesome the news figures are in this set. Trivia buffs
may be interested to know that
on the back of the packaging, the
STAR TOURS Officer is the 2002
SW [S - P1] Imperial Officer [Version 1] ('02 #55) (the
other brown hair variant) and not
the 2001 POTJ Imperial Officer figure. Yet the POTJ
version is the figure inside. But this is probably no big deal because what a piece of garbage the figure is indeed!

Teek
is probably the most exciting figure
in the whole set. As a small figure,
articulation tends not to be too
consistent with figures of tinier stature, but Hasbro
has blessed him with ten points
of articulation. This is a nice
array of movement for a figure
of this size and caliber and we probably would
have been disappointed with any
more points had Hasbro included them. There is such thing as too much articulation folks! Teek has a strikingly
amazing likeness to his appearance
in Ewoks:
The Battle For Endor and
he really only lacks his lightning speed.
But since action figures are inanimate
objects, you’ll just have
to let your imagination got to
work if you want him to zip around.
As a “new” looking
Star Wars character, he fits right
in as a believable species on Endor
and his physical characteristics
make him immediately likeable.
Half dopey and half endearing,
Teek has a lot of personality and
he may just be one of our favorite
Expanded Universe characters in
a long time. We really think that
it is a crying shame that he wasn’t
made available another way for
hardcore collectors. He deserves better billing for sure. Our next favorite
figure in the set is Kaink and
while we hoped that we could reference
her to Return
Of The Jedi, we can’t.
But she did appear in Caravan
Of Courage: An Ewok Adventure.
Kaink is a retool of Graak from 2007's TAC [Romba &] Graak (30 43) Ewok two-pack. But for this round,
Kaink has an all-new head
and a soft goods cowl which looks
fantastic. But that’s because
we are lovers of all things soft-goods. Our opinion could be tainted here.
She doesn’t look exactly
like the character in the film,
but it is close enough and most
importantly we have another new
never-before-made Ewok action figure.
Honestly, what more could you want?
It’s difficult to utter that
two figures are worth $40 and we
really can’t make that claim,
but Teek and Kaink are lovely additions
to the line and we feel our collections
wouldn’t be complete without
them. It is bittersweet to say the least.

There
are three "not so great" figures
in this set as well. STAR TOURS
Officer is a repaint of 2001’s
POTJ Imperial Officer figure. Outfitted
in terribly bright 1980s colored
threads very similar to Dominos
Pizza’s theme, the STAR TOURS
Officer is actually just as bad
as you may think. It really looks
that bad. Ree-Yees is a repaint
of the 1998 POTF2 [G/FF] Ree-YeesFreeze
Frame figure. He has
been repainted and comes with a
custom made three-eyed camera.
He apparently takes pictures of
guests as they enter the STAR WARS
attraction. Hasbro honestly did
a nice job with the repaint on
this figure, but its rather (now)
archaic sculpt has not held up
that well after all of these years. And it makes us hanker for an all-new sculpt of Ree-Yees.
Chewbacca, the biggest disappointment
in the set is clearly there so
that kids can recognize a major
character in the midst of some
pretty obscure characters. But Hasbro
decided to include the 2001 POTJ
Chewbacca (Millennium Falcon Mechanic) without any accessories. This figure
was clearly added as “filler” in
this set; try not to judge the
set’s overall value from
this figure alone. With all of the modern Chewbacca figures out there, we aren't sure why Hasbro would reach this far back in their extensive catalogue of figure. Overall, the
set is definitely overpriced, but
it still has some neat figures
in it. STAR TOURS is closing its
doors in September 2010 and this
was a very nice gesture from Hasbro
to say goodbye to this “Expanded
Universe” portion of the
Star Wars universe. But we also
hope Hasbro finds other ways to
release awesome action figures
like Teek and Kaink into the line.
There are definitely going to be
some upset people unable to purchase
this set, so hopefully Hasbro will
find other ways to get them into
the line. Time will tell and we won't hold our breath. The STAR
TOURS Boarding Party exclusive
multipack from Disney is highly
recommended, but if you’re
only looking to get the new figures
inside, then maybe this is not
the set for you and the medium to grab Teek and Kaink. But there is no
denying that Teek and Kaink somehow
make this set a worthwhile purchase.

Collector Notes

STAR
TOURS Boarding Party

Never before has a more eclectic group of characters gathered for a tour of the galaxy. Star Tours has been offering daily flights from Disney Parks to a galaxy far, far away since 1987. Celebrate the original Star Tours with this commemorative set of figures from the original Star Tours boarding party.

STAR TOURS Officer

This officer is responsible for making sure that all passengers are properly boarded and secured for takeoff. Star Tours officers also manage the Star Tours droids and oversee operations in the souvenir trading post at the end of the tour.

Kaink

Kaink is the Ewok high preistess and the village's legend-keeper. She carries a magical staff that can emit a beam of mystical force. She often accompanies the other Ewoks on their missions then returns to the village to share the stories of their adventures.

Status: Kaink is retool of 2007's TAC [Romba &] Graak (30 43) figure. This time the figure has been given an all-new heads sculpt, new soft-goods cowl and has been completely repainted.

Teek

This mischievous friend of the Ewoks lives on the forest moon of Endor. Gifted with an enormously fast metabolism, Teek is capable of incredible bursts of speed, that make him difficult to catch and nearly impossible to keep buckled into his Starspeeder 3000 seat.

Ree-Yees

The three-eyed, goat-faced Gran is a member of Jabba the Hutt's court on Tatooine. He likes to tour different planetary systems, and with his custom three-eyed camera, he is able to snap some great photos as he travels the galaxy.

Chewbacca

This Wookiee is a well-known figure to both the underworld and the Rebel Alliance. Chewbacca is an expert at starship piloting and repairs, but he also likes to relax and take convenient trips back to Endor to see his Ewok friends.